The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday declared an international public health emergency due to an Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda.
There have been 88 reported deaths and 336 suspected cases linked to the outbreak in Congo so far, including a man who died in neighbouring Uganda, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The WHO said that Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus determined "that the Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), but does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency."
The declaration is intended to put neighbouring countries on heightened alert and mobilize support from the international community, the WHO said.
Doctors without Borders (MSF) said on Saturday it was preparing a large-scale response to the outbreak in Congo's Ituri Province. The organization noted that the Bundibugyo strain was distinct from the more common Zaire strain and that there was no approved vaccine or treatment.
Ituri Province borders Uganda and South Sudan in Congo's north-east.
"The number of cases and deaths we are seeing in such a short timeframe, combined with the spread across several health zones and now across the border, is extremely concerning," MSF Emergency Programme Manager Trish Newport said in a statement.
"In Ituri, many people already struggle to access healthcare and live with ongoing insecurity, making rapid action critical to prevent the outbreak from escalating further," she added.
Ebola is a contagious and life-threatening infectious disease. The virus is transmitted through physical contact and contact with bodily fluids.
According to Germany's Robert Koch Institute, the Ebola mortality rate can be as high as 90% if infected individuals are not treated immediately.
More than 11,000 people died during an outbreak in West Africa in 2014 and 2015.
The most recent Ebola cases in Congo were reported in September when 45 people died in the province of Kasaï in the south-west of the country during what was the 16th Ebola outbreak in Congo since 1976.
